Review of The Devil's Advocate (1997) by Tom R — 24 Feb 2012
(3 Stars) The Devil's Advocate is a drama, horror, mystery, suspense, thriller... at least that's how it's promoted. But it's also a comedy; Al Pacino as the Devil? That's (unsarcastically) perfect casting and his hammy, yell-every-line acting in the third act is very funny.
It's like a John Grisham courtroom movie from hell; Kevin Lomax (Keanu Reeves, who slips in and out of a Southern accent) is a defense lawyer with a perfect record of winning cases with his clearly-guilty clients.
He is invited with his wife Mary Ann (Charlize Theron) to work for a firm in New York, then weird, demonic things start to happen. I wish I could call this movie a guilty pleasure, but it has an interesting opening, then the story sags until Al Pacino REALLY loses his s**t.
The movie seems longer than it needs to be. There are bits of unintentional comedy as the way the screenplay puts in little clues that Al Pacino is Satan, which is kind of pointless because everyone who has ever watched this movie knows he is the Devil from the get-go.
But The Devil's Advocate is worth watching for Pacino and despite its faults, I got through it.
This review of The Devil's Advocate (1997) was written by Tom R on 24 Feb 2012.
The Devil's Advocate has generally received positive reviews.
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